Cain: Abortion Should Be Illegal, But It's The "Family's Decision" To "Break The Law"

October 21, 2011 3:26 pm ET —
Julia Krieger

Two nights ago, GOP presidential frontrunner Herman Cain told CNN's Piers Morgan that his
belief that "life begins at conception, and abortion under no
circumstances," is just his opinion, not "a directive on the nation."
On policy, he seemed to present the progressive case on abortion, saying that "it's not the government's role or
anybody else's role to make that decision."

After taking some heat from Iowa
conservatives, Cain
jumped at the opportunity to walk back his progressive policy statement,
telling Fox News host Martha MacCallum this afternoon that he was simply
answering a hypothetical question on a rape case, and that the decision on
whether to break the law is "that family's decision."

MACCALLUM:
The question is, do you think abortion should be legal in this country for
families who want to make that decision?

CAIN:
No. I do not believe abortion should be legal in this country, if that's the
question. I'm consistent with that—

MACCALLUM:
So then you're saying that if those circumstances come up and the family does
make that decision, that they decide that that is the best thing for this young
person, or she decides that on her own, that if that were their case, you know,
that's what they decided, that it would be an illegal abortion that they would
need to seek.

CAIN:
It would be an illegal abortion if the law—look. Abortion should not be legal;
that is clear. But if that family made a decision to break the law, that's that
family's decision. That's all I'm trying to say.

Watch:

It's odd
that a back-alley abortion is among Cain's apparent solutions to a hypothetical
case of rape. Although it appears that criticism resulted in Cain's 180 on
abortion policy, the jury's still out on whether he believes, as he told Morgan, "I
can have an opinion on an issue without it being a directive on the nation," or
how often he'll be willing to change his tune to appeal to the Republican base.